Far-off days ... a huge demonstration in Tel Aviv in 2004. The reaction to Israel's subsequent withdrawal from Gaza has damaged the peace movement. Photo: Reuters

Most certainly do, but a small minority of Israelis still raise a dissenting voice.

Last Friday in Tel Aviv, about a thousand people gathered to protest against the bombardment of Gaza. "We came here to say that another round of bloodshed is a problem. It is not a solution," the Knesset member and noted peace activist Dov Kenin told the crowd.

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YouTube videos of the event show that on the other side of the street, a smaller but louder group of pro-war demonstrators confronted them. "Go to Gaza with the Muslims," they called. "Let the Israeli army kick arse!"

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There was another, tiny, protest in Jerusalem last Friday. About 50 Israelis stood, silently, dressed in black, not far from the residence of the Prime Minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, holding placards that read simply "Stop the Occupation".

It is far from the reported 100,000 who marched on the streets of Tel Aviv demanding peace in 1978, as Menachem Begin left for the talks that led to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt.

"Yes, there is a very small group of people who are actively promoting peace in Israel," said Lior Amihai, a member of Peace Now, an NGO that supports a two-state solution to the conflict, which would include Israel withdrawing from most of its settlements on the West Bank.

"Since 2000, more than ever before, this group has been marginalised."

The reasons were complex, he said. The failure of peace talks in the past decade had brought pessimism about an eventual solution. "And there was a campaign that there was no partner for peace on the Palestinian side" after Ehud Barak, now the Defence Minister, "went to Camp David and came back to say it is impossible to negotiate."

Soon after that, the second intifada began.

You have to understand that the other side is like you. Yes, some of them are crazy, on both sides . . . but mostly people are just people.

Ronny Israel

"If you are talking about Israeli society, what really distanced them from peace is the suicide bombings and the military operations in the West Bank," Mr Amihai said.

A second factor was that "almost everybody in Israel are soldiers". Everyone does military service, "and either you have a father, a brother, yourself, even your mother in the reserves – everybody is involved in defence, somewhere or other".

The third factor was the situation in Gaza itself, he said. Israel withdrew in September 2005, and "all we received is rockets from the Gaza Strip".

"So when you talk to people about what do you want from the Palestinians, they say 'We withdrew and look what we got.' "

"Everybody is afraid of the other side," said Ronny Israel, a Tel Aviv graphic arts teacher who founded the Facebook page Israel-Loves-Iran eight months ago, when Israelis thought their government would soon take military action over Iran's nuclear enrichment.

The page, with is simple, graphically strong, message "Please Stop the War", still exists and has become a message board for peace activism: this week, Israel said, half a million people had gone to it, and by the end of the week, he expected more then a million would visit it.

"But it's people from all over the world," he said. "There is not enough engagement from Israelis and Palestinians in that issue."

The peace movement in Israel was small, he said, because "it is very complicated to ask for peace". There were too many complexities in the relationship between the two people.

"Because of the violence, everybody is in his own position and unwilling to make a move to the other side. But to me, this is the first step in any peace process. You have to understand that the other side is like you. Yes, some of them are crazy, on both sides . . . but mostly people are just people."

Most Israelis and Palestinians were ready to live in peace, he said, but the extremists had a louder voice in the public debate.

There is only one party in the Knesset openly talking about a two-state solution, ?Meretz, a left-wing alliance with a relatively small support base.

The Netanyahu Government maintains support for the settlements and a hard line on military action against violence.

This week the Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, said: "The goal of the [Pillar of Defence] operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for 40 years."

"Of course it is hard to maintain optimism," Mr Amihai said. "They [Israelis] believe the Government and what it says."

Judith Whelan travelled to Israel to take part in a study tour sponsored by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. She has remained to cover the escalating conflict.